Space shuttle Discovery blasted off last night from Kennedy Space Centre at 19:43 EDT (23:43 GMT) on its STS-119 mission to the International Space Station.
Discovery blasts off en route to the ISS. Pic: NASA
The launch was twice delayed due to technical issues - the first a suspect hydrogen flow control valve and then a …

where's the bat, man?

I wonder

how much CO2 all this involved. I imagine producing all that Hydrogen used a fair bit, plus the water they spray on the ground to stop the heat reflecting back and blowing up the shuttle, plus the manufacture of parts, moving the space shuttle to it's launch position and so on and so on.

Beauty

Do keep up!!!

@AC: If you read the text again, it doesn't say that this was the most visually beautiful launch ever, only that one Mr Mike Leinbach thought it to be the most visually beautiful launch that he personally had ever seen.

I'll have Paris, she's not the most visually beautiful I've ever seen, but she'll do for now...